A HORRIFIED dog-walker watched his beloved family pet torn to pieces by a bull mastiff which escaped from its enclosure.

Glen O’Keefe was walking his two cross-breed dogs, called Chena and Cheelo, with his brother-in-law when the savage attack happened on a narrow lane in Kirkby.

The two men ran for their lives after the ferocious animal tore through a small fence.

Eleven-month-old Chena was shaken “like a rag doll” by the mastiff, and the other dog only narrowly escaped the same fate after one of the men scooped him to safety, receiving a bite on the hand in the process.

Today Glen and his wife Kerry, who have two young children, demanded that the bull mastiff be put down.

Kerry said: “There were three bull mastiffs behind a tiny fence. One went right through the fence and went for the dog. Both my brother and husband had to flee for their lives.

“This dog is dangerous and we want it put down.

“It could have been one of my children. My little girl is usually there and it would have just mauled her to bits.

“They are distraught about what’s happened.

“Even the policeman said he’d never seen a dog that size and it looked like it had been bred with a horse.”

The attack happened on Molly’s Lane, Kirkby at around 5.30pm last Saturday.

It is believed the dogs belong to a nearby farm.

Glen said: “It just happened so quick. The white one came bursting through the fence like it wasn’t there. I turned to pick my dogs up, but it shook Chena like a rag doll. The dog was huge, about 12 stone. It’s one of the biggest dogs I’ve seen. Chena was our baby, we treated her like one. It could have been prevented but the size of the fence was a joke.

“We don’t want this to happen to anybody else.”

A police spokesman said: “It is believed that the larger dog - which has since been identified by police dog handlers as a bull mastiff - got out of a private property onto the public highway and attacked the victim’s dog.

“Officers have subsequently located the bull mastiff’s owners and provided advice on where the dog should be securely kept while the investigation into how it came to be out in public continues.”